


Stubborness and Sass

by Proudtobeatheatrekid



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-20
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-04 03:37:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1076071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Proudtobeatheatrekid/pseuds/Proudtobeatheatrekid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Tenth Doctor and Donna are minding their own business in the TARDIS when the cloister bell goes off. Apparently the Master wants some alone time with the Doctor, and doesn't mind interrupting Nine and Jack's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Cloister Bell

**Author's Note:**

  * For [madeofbees](https://archiveofourown.org/users/madeofbees/gifts).



> This fic has not been beta'd. If you'd like to, please let me know!  
> This story came about from writer's block during NaNoWriMo, and me asking my friend what her who OTPs were. And then, for some reason, I wrote them all into a story. Enjoy!

“DONNA!” yelled the Doctor, trying to be heard over the sound of the cloister bell clanging throughout the TARDIS.

The aforementioned ginger showed up in the console room of the TARDIS and yelled, “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” The Doctor yelled back. He was busying himself frantically running in circles around the central column, banging on things with his mallet and trying to fix them with his sonic screwdriver.

“Hello, old friend,” echoed a voice, amplified over the sound of the cloister bell. The Doctor froze at the voice, “I see you have a new toy for me to play with.”

“DON’T HARM HER,” yelled The Doctor at the ceiling.

“Doctor,” said Donna. 

“Not now.” 

“But Doctor,” she continued, “why are there ghosts in the TARDIS?” 

“Donna, I’m busy,” the Doctor said, still staring at the ceiling. 

Donna marched up to the Doctor and shoved him backwards so that he had to look at her. “Who are the ghosts?” she asked.

“Ghosts? Donna, there are no ghosts on the TARDIS.” Donna raised her eyebrows and nodded her head to an area behind the Doctor and slightly to his right. The Doctor slowly turned around, and as soon as he caught sight of the two figures staring back at him, he resumed running around the console, “He can’t do this. MASTER!” he shouted back up at the ceiling, “MASTER YOU CAN’T DO THIS. YOU’RE MESSING WITH TIMESTREAMS, YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS THAT IS!”

“But you do it all the time,” the voice pouted, “See you in your room. Bye-Bye, Ms. Noble.” 

The Doctor stared at Donna as she asked, “Now you’re fading. Don’t you fade. OI! SPACEMAN! You are not allowed to fade away from me!” but it was too late. Donna was gone. So were the two figures that had been barely there. The cloister bell had stopped when Donna faded, and the Doctor took only half a second to notic that she was gone before bolting out of the control room in the direction of his room in the TARDIS.


	2. Stubbornness and sass

“OI! SPACEMAN! You are not allowed to fade away from me! Where are you- Where’d-“ Donna examined her surroundings. She was still in the TARDIS, but the Doctor had disappeared and been replaced by some dimwit in a leather jacket and a man in a military coat that _definitely_ suited him. She approached the man in the coat, as he looked more official, and said, “what did you do with the Doctor? And where did you come from?”

“The Doctor’s right there,” said the man, pointing at leather- jacket, “ _You_ came _here_ , and I’m not in charge.”

“Do I just have a face that nobody listens to?” said leather- jacket, “right. I’m the Doctor. Who are you?”

“Donna Noble, and I’m smart enough to know that you’re not the Doctor. I just came from him. Do you think I’m stupid ‘cause I’m a ginger?”

Military coat started laughing silently. “Oi! What are you laughing at?” the other two asked in unison. Military coat put his hands in the air in surrender.

“You better take me back to the Doctor.” Said Donna, turning back to leather jacket. Or- show me where he is- or- why do you have his ship? Give the Doctor back his ship!”

“I am the Doctor!” said Leather Jacket.

“You said it was Donna, right?” asked Military coat, stepping forward to intervene, “Captain Jack Harkness. I assure you that this _is_ the Doctor, but probably in a different point in his time stream. I’m guessing before he’s met you, judging from the fact that he doesn’t recognize you.”

Donna glared at Jack, still wary of him.

“I could take you home. That way, future me will know exactly where to find you to pick you up. And if he doesn’t, you’ll still be safe.”

"I’m not going home! I decided to travel with the Doctor and that’s what I’m going to do! No big- eared dimwit in a leather jacket is gonna stop me.”

“Dimwit?” asked the Doctor, “I’m not a dimwit!”

“I thought you’d be more offended by the comment on the ears,” commented Jack.

“Take me back to the Doctor,” said Donna, crossing her arms and leaning against the center console.

“Donna,” said Jack, “Please listen to the Doctor. He knows what he’s talking about. Taking you home is the best thing we can do for you right now.”

“He’s just saying that ‘cause he wants to be alone with me,” said not- the- doctor smugly.

Jack winked at not- the- doctor, then turned to Donna, saying, “Just tell us where home is, we’ll land, and you can get out or not get out.”

“Earth,” said Donna angrily, “England. London. Chiswick. 2009.”

“Chiswick 2009 coming right up,” said not- the– doctor.

The TARDIS shook, and Donna grabbed onto something, grinning, because even in the strangest situation, this was still the TARDIS, this was still travelling in space and time, and it was _fun._

Almost as soon as the TARDIS landed, there was a knock. Jack went to open the door, and Donna heard a voice say, “Who are you? Is the Donna in there? How is she?”

“Granddad!” called Donna, running past Jack out of the TARDIS and accepting the hug Wilfred gave her.

“Good to see you, sweetheart!” said Wilf.

“That’s so sweet,” said Jack, still standing in the Doorway of the TARDIS, now accompanied by the Doctor.

“Family,” said the Doctor, watching the two depart. He turned to retreat back into the TARDIS, but Jack stopped him by grabbing his elbow.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Jack said, “I’m buying you dinner.”

“In Chiswick?”

“It’s as good a place as any.”

“Alright,” said the Doctor cheerfully, looking forward to spending time with Jack. He popped out of the TARDIS and locked the door behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

    “Hello, Doctor,” said the blond man sitting on his bed.

     “Bring her back,” said the Doctor.

     The Master laughed, “But she never left.”

     “Yes she did. You took her.”

     “No I didn’t. She’s still in the TARDIS.”

     The Doctor gasped, “You can’t play with timelines like that! She’ll mess up everything!”

     “Well, she can’t do that, can she?”

     “Master-“

     “I do so love it when you use my name.”

     “Master, Rose wasn’t there. Just Jack. That’s means that they were- oh, Donna’s gonna have a field day.” 

     “And why would that be?”

     “Well, that trip that you sent her to. Rose always called it- well, she called it Jack and my honeymoon.”

     “You got married?”

     “No, we- Jack and I took a trip without Rose. While she was visiting her mother. We got back, and she just kept referring to it as our honeymoon.”

     “Ah, I was afraid you’d cheated on me for a minute there.”

     “Master, I was married for fifty years.”

     “Shortest marriage on Gallifrey,” the Master nodded.

     “Longer than you’ve been married.”

     “I’m insane. Nobody would marry me. The Rani didn’t even want to collaborate with me.”

     “And yet, you were clever enough to force her to.”

     The Master grinned, “You’re the only one who’s ever been a rival to my genius.”

     “You hypnotise people. I wouldn’t call that genius.”

     “Why are you so angry?”

     “YOU DESTROYED MY FRIEND’S LIFE.”

     “You found another one.”

     “You destroyed a person’s life, Master. That cannot be forgiven.”

     “Is it worse than murder?” asked the Master, rising from where he had been lounging on the Doctor’s bed, “Genocide?” He stood face to face with the Doctor, “Because you’ve done both of those, and I’m not holding it against you.”

     “Those also cannot be forgiven.”

     “Who isn’t forgiving you? I’m the only other Time Lord, and I’m fine with forgiving you.”

     “You’re a psychopath, of course you would forgive murder.”

     “Whose forgiveness?” asked the Master, grabbing the Doctor’s chin and forcing him to look into his eyes.

     “Mine,” said the Doctor, his face still blank.

     The Master let go of the Doctor’s face abruptly, took two steps back, and started laughing.

     “Gallifrey burned and I watched. I destroyed it. There is no more Gallifrey because of me. That is an unforgivable crime.”

     “So how are you paying your penance?” asked the Master. “It’s a serious question. You’ve commited a crime. What is your punishment?”

     “Sorry, you were dead,” said the Doctor, his face suddenly changing from the hard soldier to curiousity, “also not blond.”

     “Oh, long story,” said the Master, “You were there.”

     “So we’re meeting again my future. I look forward to it. Now, if you wouldn’t mind returning Donna to the correct place in my timeline and leaving, I would be so very grateful.”

     The Master laughed, “I was almost sent back to the time war. A thing I had so cunningly escaped. But you sent me back there.”

     “You just said ‘almost’,” pointed out the Doctor.

     “I was left floating in the vortex. I don’t belong in the Time War. There’s something keeping me out. It won’t let me get in.”

     “Me,” muttered the Doctor.

     “What?” asked the Master.

     “I did horrible things there. Things I don’t want anyone to see. Especially not you. I’ve told you. I made it burn. _I_ made Gallifrey burn. I killed everyone. All of them. Except you. You survived. And you will keep surviving.”

     “To prove your guilt?”

     “To give me solace. To give me companionship,” the Doctor softened, “Because when I think about the time war I think about everyone who died, I think about what I did, I think about Gallifrey burning. But when I look at you, I see survival. I see my friend. Koschei-“

     “I was Koschei at the Academy. I am not anymore. We took names when we graduated, like all Time Lords. I am not Koschei, you are not Theta.”

     “Can’t we just be kids again for an hour?”

     “We’re both in our thousands.”

     “I’m only nine hundred and three.”

     “We’re both nearly in our thousands,” the Master corrected, “We can’t be a hundred again. It’s been too long. We’ve both seen so much. We’re different people.”

     “I just want to be Theta and Koschei again,” said the Doctor sadly, “I want to be on Gallifrey, sneaking out with a picnic blanket to watch the sunrise, and having to run back before the second sunrise to get back to the Academy in time for class. I remember staying up all night with you-“ the Doctor approached the Master slowly, longing in his eyes.

     “Theta-“ said the Master.

     “Please, can’t we just remember that time? We weren’t enemies. We used to be friends-“

     “Not just friends,” said the Master.

     The Doctor smiled, “Remind me?”

     And the Master did.

 

* * *

“Banana?” asked Jack.

     “Is that my future?” asked the Doctor, “stubbornly standing at the console not going anywhere? And is Rose still there?”

     “First of all, you’ve regenerated by then. She didn’t recognize you. And, as for Rose, I don’t know. I don’t really _want_ to know. I mean, I don’t even know my past, why would I want to know my future.”

     “Maybe we can go to the time agency and figure out what you did,” offered the Doctor

     “No,” said Jack, putting a hand on the Doctor’s shoulder to keep him down, “I don’t think I really want to know.” Jack sat down next to the Doctor and, after a comfortable silence, said, “I bought you dinner.”

     “You did.”

     “Are you really worth it?”

     “Why don’t you find out?” asked the Doctor.

     Jack laughed, and kissed him. He felt the Doctor tense up slightly, and brought his other hand around the Doctor’s back to gently rub his spine. The Doctor shuddered, then pulled back.

     “Sorry,” said Jack, “I don’t know much about Time Lord physiology-“

     “You don’t?” asked the Doctor, “Because that was _fantastic_.”

     “Was it really?” asked Jack suggestively, leaning back in.

...

     “You’re such hard work,” joked Jack, laying on his back with a sheet up to his belly button.

     “But worth it,” said the Doctor, in the same position, turning his head toward Jack.

     Jack laughed, and turned his head toward the Doctor to resume the kissing.


	4. Epilogue

     Donna’s doorbell rang, and she answered it to find the Doctor, the proper Doctor, in his pinstripe suit and long brown coat.

     “Donna Noble!” he said, “How was your vacation?”

     “Well, you’re chipper,” said Donna, “Let me just tell Grandad you’re here. You should come meet him!”

     “Alright,” said the doctor, surprising even himself. So the two headed up the hill.

     “Hello sweetheart,” said Wilf when they reached the top, “And Doctor! Good to see you!” wilf shook the Doctor’s hand.

     “May I?” asked the doctor, pointing at the telescope Wilf had set up.

     “Of course!” said Wilf.

     The Doctor looked through the telescope, focusing it on a specific spot, then standing up and saying, “There. Look throught that,” Wilf did, “That is a whole galaxy. Humans will go there someday. Colonize the whole thing. There’ll be a government and a civil war. Horrid war, that one. People didn’t like the government. They lost, of course, the government had better weapons, but lots of people secretly supported the Independents after the war. Had to do it in secret, though, of course. Donna, we should go there, you can tell them some of the stories of what they call “Earth- that- was”. Oh, and we should go to Persephone! Wonderful place, Persephone. You can find any kind of spaceship you want to travel in taking on passengers, the culture is amazing, blend of American and Chinese, and the people-“

     “Sounds wonderful,” said Donna, interrupting, “but can we get going?”    

     “’course. Lovely to see you again, Wilf,” said the Doctor, grinning.

     “Same to you. Take care of my girl!”

     The Doctor nodded, and he and Donna headed back to the TARDIS to continue their adventures, but the Doctor no longer dreaded meeting the Master.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas Eve to all reading, and thank you so much for reading this story! Hope you enjoyed.


End file.
